Character overview

Arthur is one of the characters present from the opening of Inception, establishing him as a long-time ally of team-leader Dom Cobb. Arthur's role on the team is known as point man, from the military term. He is left to fend off hostile projections on his own in the second level of the Fischer dream, where the rest of the team - and their success - partly depends on him being able to create the right circumstances - a "kick" - to bring everyone out of the dream again. His actions demonstrate that Arthur is highly competent and, despite being called a "stick-in-the-mud" with "no imagination" by Eames, is actually quite inventive.

Fandom reception

Arthur was a big hit with fandom, despite not being a major character (though he can fairly be called the secondary character with the largest role), and, in an odd twist, became half of the major fandom pairing for the film's fandom, along with Eames. The Arthur/Eames pairing beat all odds in becoming popular, no doubt in part due to the charisma and gung-ho attitude of Eames played up against the far more sensible and cool-headed Arthur, but also to the acting talent of Gordon-Levitt and, undoubtedly, his appealing looks[2]. The canon also heavily implies there is backstory between Eames, Mal and Cobb, and the competitive nature it takes between Arthur and Eames, with mutual teasing and banter, has endeared the characters to fandom.[3]

Arthur has a number of last names in fandom. There is even a theory that Arthur's last name is actually Darling, giving a humourous alternate interpretation of Eames's line, "You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling," from the film.